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Today, I hooked big steel, but could not seal the deal. I remember the moments when my fly would be ticking the bottom perfectly, my indicators would plummet and I would set the hook, only to see a gigantic chrome fish come to the surface in shock then begin to rip down stream and my fly coming loose from its mouth. I remember when I hooked four steelhead. All at first light only to have them all break off. But I did make a semi comeback. Jeremy and I were fly fishing together on the same rock. The drift we wanted had to be perfectly placed in the slick.

The indicators were moving exactly at the same speed as the bubbles and my egg pattern was in the perfect place within the seam. My double indicator setup with an Oregon cheese egg pattern stopped. Since my setup was ticking the bottom throughout the entire drift, I assumed I was hooked on the bottom and lifted the rod tip. I was rewarded with a big surprise. A nice Brown Trout had taken my fly. He fought well and I fought him down and back to a snow bank.

Once I finally landed the fish, I was not so sad that this was not a steelhead. I also landed a much bigger brown the very next cast! As soon as it turned on, it shut off. A few steelhead were hooked and landed by others in our group, but somehow they seemed to escape me. I now understand why they are considered to be very elusive and master escape artists. So tomorrow we will be back at first light in a run that always seems to have steelhead in it, in a run that has a drift that is almost as tough as the fish that lay in it. I look forward to

drifting it, and hopefully, a steelhead will be brought into my hands.